Society is maturing. This is the technology/nuclear age where we have started to better understand that the damage we can do is permanent. The world’s greatest minds are terrified of where Artificial Intelligence will go, we’ve made a lot of changes in the environment in various ways but at least now we’re quickly growing a greater respect for where we live and what we are and how we connect.

It might look bad, but this is where we begin an era of attempting to gain more self-control as a species. We’re thrashing around less. Most of us want treaties not wars. And now that Maslow’s Pyramid has been largely fulfilled, we’re looking for the why’s behind life. What’s the point of all this effort to stay alive?

More and more people are looking for more and more meaning. That explains why fewer and fewer people are seduced by materialism or status. It’s now easier and easier to see that the people who still live still deep inside the matrix have fallen into a destructive kind of materialist addiction of working and spending. Meanwhile, an increasing number of people are trading less work for a smaller life.

Young people used to discuss the cars they wanted to own and the clothes and the trips they wanted to brag about. Some still do. But more and more of today’s youth are more interested in seeking peace and connection. Personally they want less ownership (or should I call it Onerouship?). They want more time with friends. And that shift in values means they see fewer reasons to economically protect ourselves. Increasingly we are seeing ourselves as having more in common with other people from other places. Money might be finite and we may have to battle over it but such is not the case with love. There is always more available. This leads us to see each other less as races and nations and more as humans. This is a big step for humanity.

The era we’re entering right now is an exciting one. Many of us can pretty easily sense the rumble of change. There’s a real disconnection with materialism, celebrity, efficiency, social conduct and politics. These things feel hollow and meaningless and we are less and less mesmerized by their tricks and we’re more interested in the genuine substance of life.

Before any big change in a person or the world there were always be tumult beforehand. Things will be restless as they reorganize for the change. Then we change, work to understand the change, exploit the change and then move on. Our current tumult is leading to our togetherness phase. This is where we really start to realize how challenging life can be. We start to actually want help. We’ll admit vulnerability and in doing so we will realize that the greatest feelings we get are from cooperation, compassion and love, not competition, comparison and indifference.

The issues that concern people are all about false idols. People do terrible things to each other to obtain fame, power and money. And we’re all focused on blaming each other. But these issues aren’t solved by some know-it-all politician or some divine guru who leads us to the next evolution of our being. This is a personal journey that cannot be lead by anyone guided by fame, power and/or money. We must all lead our own journey. But lead it we must do.

Don’t look to elect a certain government as a way of making things better. Go be nice to your neighbours. Be kinder. Gentler. Happier. Be more patient and tolerant. Because all that other stuff doesn’t really matter on a day to day basis if our interactions aren’t of good quality. My taxes might be low but if I argue every day with my neighbour then my life sucks. So we’ve gotten to the point where a large and ever-increasing number of us are starting to care less what life looks like and we are caring more and more about how it feels.

You are an integral part of this change. The whole cannot change if each part does not cooperate. The decisions you make in life will either add to this current or run contrary to it. But everyone’s always a part of what happens and the river always flows toward the sea no matter what unfolds. None of this is a matter of if, it’s only a matter of when. The world is maturing. If you look for it you’ll see many signs of that. Rejoice.

peace. s

Scott McPherson is a writer, public speaker, and mindfulness facilitator who works with individuals, companies and nonprofit organizations around the world.

Following a serious childhood brain injury Scott McPherson unwittingly spent his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and the self. This made him as strange to others as they were to him. Seeing the self-harm people created with their own overthinking, Scott dedicated part of his life to helping others live with greater awareness. He is currently a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB, where he finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.